No Contract Talks For DJax, Garcon
It appears that Washington plans on going into the 2016 with both DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon on the roster, multiple sources close to the players tell Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link). However, there have been no talks with either player about contract extensions or re-doing their contracts. 
Garcon, 30 in August, has roughly $8MM tied up between salary and bonuses for 2016. Jackson, 29, is set to carry a $9.25MM cap number in 2016 before hitting the open market. Without contract talks for either player, it would seem that the team is getting ready to move on from one of the veterans – or perhaps both – after the 2016 season.
Based on their moves this offseason, it seems that Washington is already shifting its offensive focus away from Jackson and Garcon. The team used a first-round selection to grab TCU product Josh Doctson who was the third wide receiver to come off the board after Corey Coleman of Baylor (Browns) and Will Fuller of Notre Dame (Texans). And, more recently, Washington shook hands with tight end Jordan Reed on a brand new extension worth $48.421MM over five years. Cole posits that the team is looking to supplant one of its veteran wide receivers with Doctson while utilizing Reed as the star of its aerial attack.
Garcon caught 72 passes for 777 yards in 2015, a far cry from his 113 catches for 1,346 yards in 2013. Jackson spent a good chunk of 2015 on the sidelines and only managed to record 30 receptions for 528 yards across ten games last season. In his previous two campaigns, Jackson comfortably cleared 1,000 yards receiving.
Recently, PFR’s own Dallas Robinson highlighted Jackson and Garcon as two veterans who could be seriously impacted by the NFL Draft.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Washington Cuts Tevin Carter
- Washington released safety Tevin Carter (link).
Jordan Reed Contract Details
Way back in February, a report surfaced suggesting that the Lions were planning to release veteran linebacker Stephen Tulloch when the new league year opened. However, the first week of the league year came and went without any roster moves involving Tulloch, and he has remained a Lion for nearly two more full months since then.
Appearing on PFT Live on Monday, Lions general manager Bob Quinn said there’s still “a chance” that Tulloch remains with the team for the 2016 season. However, a source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that the linebacker’s release is likely “imminent.” That comes as no surprise — Detroit reportedly made efforts to work out a trade involving Tulloch, but it seems there hasn’t been any movement on that front.
Here’s more from around the NFC:
- We heard last week that free agent linebacker O’Brien Schofield is interested in rejoining the Falcons. According to head coach Dan Quinn, the door is “never closed with Scho.” However, as Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com details, the two sides have been unable to agree on contract terms, despite the fact that Atlanta made Schofield an offer.
- Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post breaks down the specific details on Jordan Reed‘s long-term extension with Washington, which is worth $48.421MM over five years.
- Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk previews the extension talks between the Cardinals and defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, which should become more serious in the coming weeks or months.
- Ex-NFL quarterback Byron Leftwich has a new job, having joined the Cardinals as a coaching intern under Bruce Arians, as Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com outlines. The former Jaguars starting quarterback will be with Arizona throughout the offseason and in training camp. “After that, we’ll see,” Arians said. “Hopefully I can keep him all year. I think he’s got a great, bright future in coaching.”
Washington Signs Josh Doctson, Others
Washington has locked up all but one of its seven draft picks, the team announced today, as detailed by Stephen Czarda at Redskins.com. The list of draftees locked up by the club includes first-round wideout Josh Doctson, whose four-year rookie contract will feature a fifth-year option for 2020. Here’s the full list of draft picks who have officially signed with Washington:
- 1-22: Josh Doctson, WR (TCU)
- 2-53: Su’a Cravens, LB (USC)
- 5-152: Matt Ioannidis, DL (Temple)
- 6-187: Nate Sudfeld, QB (Indiana)
- 7-232: Steven Daniels, LB (Boston College) (previously reported)
- 7-242: Keith Marshall, RB (Georgia)
With six picks locked up, Washington just needs to finalize a deal with third-round cornerback Kendall Fuller to secure its entire draft class. Contracts for third-rounders can often be the trickiest to get done, since there’s a little more wiggle room to negotiate, whereas terms are fairly rigid throughout most of the rest of the draft.
Per Over The Cap’s data, Doctson’s four-year pact will be worth about $10.05MM, with a $5.509MM signing bonus. Cravens’ deal features a signing bonus of $1.423MM, while the rest of the team’s rookie contracts will be far more modest, with bonuses of less than $250K apiece for the late-round picks.
In addition to signing several draftees, Washington also added a pair of undrafted free agents – cornerback Lloyd Carrington and linebacker Reggie Northrup – to the roster, reaching the 90-man limit.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cousins Missing Out On Money Norman, Reed Received?
Until Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets can come to terms, Geno Smith is the most experienced quarterback on the roster. But Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News doesn’t view Mike Maccagnan‘s repeated endorsements of the underwhelming 2013 second-rounder as comments to be taken at face value.
While the Jets and Fitzpatrick play hardball, other executives around the league are wondering what exactly the team is planning at quarterback. Should Fitzpatrick sign to play a second season in New York, Maccagnan has tossed around the idea of carrying four quarterbacks, with Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty residing in the developmental wing of the meeting room.
The Jets as an organization have discussed using the 2000 Patriots as a model for the four-QB setup. The Pats that year housed starter Drew Bledsoe, veteran backup John Friesz and developmental prospects Tom Brady and Michael Bishop. Hackenberg or Petty would theoretically be cast as Brady in the Jets’ scenario.
One NFL executive told Mehta the Jets considering carrying four passers “doesn’t make sense.” Smith and Petty would seemingly be jostling for a roster spot if the Jets were planning to employ the usual three. Mehta writes the Patriots’ thinking in 2000 was an aberration and merely hanging onto an extra signal-caller one season — at the expense of a key backup elsewhere — doesn’t equate to a franchise passer emerging from the group.
Here’s the latest from the Eastern divisions on rookie minicamp Saturday.
- New Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph guesses Cameron Wake will be ready to play come Week 1, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reports. Wake is recovering from a ruptured Achilles’ tendon and entering his age-34 season. The four-time Pro Bowler registered seven sacks in seven games last season before going down with the Achilles injury in October.
- Identifying second-rounder Xavien Howard as a “six-foot guy with 5-10 corner movement skills,” Joseph said the rookie corner will vie for a Dolphins starting job with Byron Maxwell and Tony Lippett, per Salguero.
- Rex Ryan categorized Cardale Jones as a player with “a long way to go,” per an Associated Press report. “He’s got the physical gifts you look for, there’s no question about that,” Ryan said of the former Ohio State starter. “But you also notice that he’s just going through everything like, it’s spinning right now. He’s throwing behind guys. He doesn’t know where he’s going right now with it.” The Bills have Tyrod Taylor and EJ Manuel venturing into their contract seasons in 2016, leaving the franchise’s future unsettled. Jones was considered a potential first-round pick thanks to the tools he showed as a sophomore in the inaugural College Football Playoff, but being benched as a junior damaged his stock and relegated him into the fourth round.
- The Cowboys are relocating Keith Smith and Rod Smith to fullback from their respective linebacker and running back positions to provide the them a better chance at making the 53-man roster, Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. Dallas’ fullback from 2013-15, Tyler Clutts remains a free agent. Keith Smith has played in 15 games the past two seasons as mostly a special teams cog, and Rod Smith joined the Cowboys last season after the Seahawks cut him.
- Washington may be somewhat reluctant to invest long-term, franchise quarterback-level money in Kirk Cousins after he’d shown to be a proficient passer in just one season. But given the team’s recent deals for 2015 breakout players Josh Norman and Jordan Reed, Rich Tandler of CSNWashington.com notes Cousins’ career arc doesn’t differentiate itself much from the now-extremely well-compensated cornerback and tight end. Cousins is currently attached to the $19.953MM non-exclusive franchise tag, which he’s signed.
Washington Signs 14 Undrafted Free Agents
As rookie minicamps open around the NFL, more and more teams are officially announcing their undrafted free agent signings. Washington did so this morning, adding 14 new players to the 90-man roster, according to the team’s official website. Here’s the complete list of the UDFAs headed to D.C.:
- T Kevin Bowen (East Central)
- S Tevin Carter (Utah)
- TE Michael Cooper (Indiana)
- LB Shiro Davis (Texas) ($5K signing bonus, per Aaron Wilson)
- WR Reggie Diggs (Richmond)
- LB Ejiro Ederaine (Fresno State)
- T Joe Gore (Clemson)
- WR Maurice Harris (California) ($3.5K signing bonus, per Wilson)
- G Dominick Jackson (Alabama)
- RB Rob Kelley (Tulane)
- FB Joe Kerridge (Michigan)
- DE Anthony Lanier (Alabama A&M)
- S Geno Matias-Smith (Alabama)
- WR Valdez Showers (Florida)
Washington Signs Steven Daniels
The Seahawks and second-round pick Jarran Reed have agreed to terms on a contract, his representatives tell Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The defensive tackle is scheduled to earn $4.889MM ($1.756MM signing bonus) over the life of his four-year rookie deal. Seattle is hoping that Reed will help to beef up the defensive line in the absence of Brandon Mebane.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks have also agreed to terms with guard Rees Odhiambo, as Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports tweets. The third-round pick will have a shot to win a starting job right out of the gate in Seattle.
Here are more of the latest draft pick signings from around the NFC:
- Lions sixth-round pick Jimmy Landes, who is a strong candidate to take over the team’s long snapper job in 2016, is signing his rookie contract today, tweets Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. Landes will receive a signing bonus just north of $100K.
- Washington has begun securing its 2016 draft class by agreeing to a deal with seventh-round pick Steven Daniels, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. The former Boston College linebacker will be in line for a four-year contract worth about $2.581MM, including a signing bonus of $77K.
- Former Florida running back Kelvin Taylor, one of three players drafted in the sixth round last Saturday by the 49ers, has signed his four-year deal with San Francisco, per Rand Getlin of the NFL Network (Twitter link). Taylor, the son of longtime Jaguars running back Fred Taylor, isn’t the only draftee locked up by San Francisco — the team also reached an agreement with sixth-round quarterback Jeff Driskel, per Aaron Wilson (Twitter link).
- The Packers have completed their deal with fifth-round wide receiver Trevor Davis, a source tells Rob Demovksy of ESPN.com. Davis will be competing for a spot on a crowded receiving corps in Green Bay this summer.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Washington Signs Jordan Reed To Extension
10:24am: Reed will get a “base” of $46.5MM over five seasons, per Mike Florio of PFT (on Twitter). The new-money average on the deal is $9.3MM per year.
8:35am: Reed has officially signed his new five-year extension to remain in Washington, the team has confirmed via its website.
8:25am: Washington has locked up a key piece of its offense for the long term, according to Peter Schrager of FOX Sports, who reports (via Twitter) that the team has agreed to a five-year extension with tight end Jordan Reed. It will be worth $50MM over five years, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.
While Schefter places the annual average value of Reed’s new extension at $10MM per year, Schrager tweets that it’s actually the second-largest deal for a tight end, behind Jimmy Graham‘s contract, which is also worth $10MM annually. Pro Football Talk (via Twitter) confirms that the total value of Reed’s contract is actually just under $50MM, so it doesn’t quite reach that $10MM-per-year threshold. Per PFT, the extension also includes $22MM in guarantees, though it’s not clear how much of that is fully guaranteed.
We may have to wait for the full year-by-year breakdown of Reed’s new contract to get a real idea of how it compares to other top tight end deals, but it certainly looks like a very nice payday for the former third-round pick, who had a breakout campaign in 2015.
After being limited to just 20 overall games in 2013 and 2014, Reed stayed healthy for 14 games last season, racking up 87 receptions for 952 yards and 11 touchdowns. In spite of Reed’s injury history, he seemed destined for a lucrative long-term extension, with Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz having already signed new mega-deals this offseason — neither of those tight ends matched the impressive numbers that the Washington pass-catcher put up in 2015.
Reed had been preparing to enter the final year of his rookie contract, and would have earned a base salary of $1.661MM in 2016 under the terms of his old deal. Extending him now will allow Washington to apply some of the new money in the extension to the 2016 cap, likely increasing Reed’s $1.808MM cap charge, in addition to allowing the tight end to get paid a year early.
With Reed now under contract through the 2021 season, Washington will still need to address the contract situation for the quarterback throwing him the ball. Kirk Cousins, currently set to play the 2016 season under the franchise tag, has until July 15th to work out a multiyear extension with the team. Whether or not the two sides don’t come to terms by then, Cousins looks well-equipped to have another strong season, with Reed, DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garcon, Jamison Crowder, and first-round pick Josh Doctson all a part of his arsenal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Su'a Cravens Excited About Heading To Washington
Three Jets players tell Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link) that there are concerns in the locker room regarding the state of the quarterback depth chart. After the draft, coach Todd Bowles declared that Geno Smith will be the team’s starting quarterback and there isn’t much faith in him amongst Jets players. Meanwhile, rookie Christian Hackenberg doesn’t offer strong fundamentals and Bryce Petty‘s time at Baylor didn’t give him real experience in a pro-style offense.
While Jets players believe that the defense can help carry the team into contention, they still would like to see a veteran quarterback like Ryan Fitzpatrick or Sam Bradford at the helm, says Cole.
Let’s check in on a few other items from around the NFL’s East divisions…
- When veteran pass rusher Justin Tuck announced his retirement back in February, he indicated that he planned to ink a one-day contract to retire as a member of the Giants. That will officially happen this Friday, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN.com.
- Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post explores whether it would make sense for the Giants to pursue a trade for disgruntled 49ers tackle Anthony Davis, who is a New Jersey native. David remains on San Francisco’s reserve/retired list and would need to be reinstated before any trade could be completed, but he doesn’t sound enthusiastic about the idea of returning to the Niners.
- While the Bills made the right call in extending left tackle Cordy Glenn, working out new contracts for quarterback Tyrod Taylor and cornerback Stephon Gilmore may be a little trickier, as Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News writes.
- Linebacker/safety Su’a Cravens says that Washington “didn’t even look my way” leading into the draft (Twitter link via Alex Marvez of SiriusXM). However, Cravens says he’s excited about how things turned out.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Bruce Allen: Couldn't Pass Up Josh Doctson
Here’s a look at the NFC East:
- Cornerback Leon Hall left the Giants‘ facility without a contract today, Paul Schwartz of the New York Post tweets. Hall, 31, could conceivably give the Giants some cornerback support behind a strong trio of Janoris Jenkins, first-round pick Eli Apple, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. But, for now, there’s no deal. Hall has spent his entire nine-year NFL career to date in Cincinnati, playing 121 regular-season games since 2007 for the Bengals.
- Jets GM Mike Maccagnan says the team “strongly considered” trading out of the first round in a proposed deal with the Cowboys, as Rich Cimini of ESPN.com writes. The Cowboys, drafting at No. 34, were working to get their hands on Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch. The offer wasn’t enough to entice the Jets to move down and the team wound up staying pat to select linebacker Darron Lee. Lynch, meanwhile, fell to No. 26 where Denver moved up to snag him.
- Washington exec Bruce Allen says the team just couldn’t resist taking wide receiver Josh Doctson at No. 22 (Twitter link via SiriusXM). The TCU product was the third wide receiver to come off the board in this year’s draft, behind Corey Coleman of Baylor (Cleveland) and Will Fuller of Notre Dame (Houston).